"The use of social media for inappropriate purposes with young people and others to gather quickly and do things that none of us want to see is a problem not just in Philadelphia," Ramsey said when a councilman asked him about preparations for the approaching warm weather months, locally dubbed "flash mob season."

"We're not just concerned with so-called 'flash mobs,' but with the reemergence of Occupy in Philadelphia – they network in the same way," Ramsey said. "They have these pop up demonstrations. They had one last night we were trying to hurry and get people to deal with around a federal building."

He said that the department monitors social media websites on a regular basis and moves quickly to corral large gatherings before they become a problem. "I think we have to be prepared to deal with it," he said. "That’s just the future, the way it is."